I implore for aid! Fiendish chess puzzle escapes my grasp!

Originally posted by uzless
but that's a rediculous move black would have made before white took the queen with the horse...why would black leave the queen in corner like that?? Seems dumb.

How about if, on the move before (black's go) it was:




So folks, is this puzzle broken because we can put a black queen, bishop, knight or nothing at-all on A8 and there is no way to tell which is right?

Originally posted by iamatiger
How about if, on the move before (black's go) it was:

[fen]Q1K5/k7/1N6/8/8/5q2/7P/6B1 b[/fen]


So folks, is this puzzle broken because we can put a black queen, bishop, knight or nothing at-all on A8 and there is no way to tell which is right?

I think the stipulation must be changed.

"White to move - what was Black's last move?"

This should avoid any ambiguity.

You should pat yourself on the back for this one - Smullyan completely missed this possibility, as the passage from his book shows: http://www.chessbase.com/puzzle/puzzle9/puzz9-5a.htm.

Ares64, could you clarify the question?